Weren't they just? I can still feel that bass reverberating around my insides!!!

Album - so tough to choose, but I'd probably plump for the DVD version of Minimum:Maximum if you held a gun to my head, as it's such a good overview and sounds (and looks) fucking amazing. Anyone who thinks 4 ageing Germans standing behind computers can't put on the best live show on the planet is sorely misguided.

Song - The Robots (from Minimum:Maximum - when the beats crash in at about 5:20, it's nigh-on transcendental)

Weren't they just? I can still feel that bass reverberating around my insides!!!

Album - so tough to choose, but I'd probably plump for the DVD version of Minimum:Maximum if you held a gun to my head, as it's such a good overview and sounds (and looks) fucking amazing. Anyone who thinks 4 ageing Germans standing behind computers can't put on the best live show on the planet is sorely misguided.

Song - The Robots (from Minimum:Maximum - when the beats crash in at about 5:20, it's nigh-on transcendental)

Cue me and My Son bumping into Funky and Jethro just before our insides got pulped in mush, MaaaaaaCCCHINNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEE, He is a lucky wee sod my son, thankly he does appreciate that I am the Best Dad in The World.

ten seconds of these guys and I'm under some sort of spell. I'm not responsible for my own actions. Please don't try to sell me anything.
I really like the early stuff cause it's so loose and has neat textures. Still, I've got no problem with the way they've decided to do things.

Kraftwerk's best stuff is strange in that it possess an almost knowing naivite to it, the joy in its own simplicity, particularly in terms of its humour. As for song, well it has to be Autobahn doesn't it, the way that the details all coalesce just through simple repetitions, its knowledge of how pop music works when you have something to hold onto (in their case, the utterly addictive "fahr'n fahr'n fahr'n auf der Autobahn" chorus). It's a beautiful piece of music, really.

Predictably, Trans Europe Express is my favourite of their LPs, because the whole sound and approach of it is so throughly precise- everything on falls into place and the segues are often as beautiful as they are expected. They find a lot of warmth in their love of machinery, don't they? And a lot of humour, too, ("Showroom Dummies" is a 3-minute joke, essentially mocking their entire image). Finally, its ultimate resolution: those faint, slightly disembodied voices on Endless Endless after the Franz Schubert motif again reveal the subtlety of their approach. Like finally coming out of the tunner to see the light, if that's not too hackneyed.

As for Man Machine, well I like it a lot- particularly the deeply cynical "The Model" (One of the strangest no. 1 singles ever? Certainly, in terms of its ruthless sarcasm and minimalism), but for some reason, it doesn't feel as artful to me as Trans Europe Express. I'm not sure what it is, I remember adoring something like "Neon Lights" the last time I heard it, but I don't think I can connect to it in quite the same way as its predecessor. That said, it contains many pretty resolutions.

Oddly, I think there are some parallels between Kraftwerk and Chic. Both were hugely influential (though I suppose Kraftwerk's influence is more obviously traceable) in future dance music are quite apparent in some respects. In fact, both produced songs that helped to directly influence rap, Chic's "Good Times" formed the entire musical basis for "Rapper's Delight", while Kraftwerk's "Trans-Europe-Express" became the backing track for "Planet Rock" (among others). Also, both dealt in incredibly pared-back styles (there's absolutely no extraneous material in Rogers's arrangements), and both used their populism to smuggle in a wilfully subversion at times.

Whereas Chic's outwardly funky and energetic music hid a scathing attitude to its approach, Kraftwerk's seemingly cold and minimalist aesthetic hides a warmth and almost childlike appeal. A lot of Chic's music is essentially about the perils of the crossover, and what it might do to you. Something like "Good Times" or "Le Freak" sound like it's forever on the point of collapse (the singing, in particular). But the music is so celebratory, almost inspite of this fact.

It's before my time but I've been told, he never came back from Karangahape Road.